I now pass up properties that I would have bought in my earlier days when I was more willing to be aggressive and gamble because I knew that I was willing to hustle more to make a deal work.

In the end, we decided not to tent, knowing there was risk the termites could still be active in the addition, or could have fully migrated to another location, but I felt okay with a 90% inspection.Well, I lost on that gamble.

You realize that many of the lawsuits were filed by competitors (proctor gamble).

They are looking for places like midtown/downtown and buying an investment property there is a gamble at best.

The other 95% will fail because they are just gambling, and when the table stops paying or they can't figure out the game, they walk away, only to be replaced by a new group of people doing the same thing!

I gambled on the water restricting supply.

Lots of people love to gamble. 

I can assure you even if you make more money, uncontrolled spending will just consume every penny.

Many people can get by without pulling them, but it's a gamble.  

but in my view it makes a relatively "safe" investment in cash flowing real estate into a gamble on appreciation.